Unseen
by Downbeat
Summary: Original Cindy and Bling meet and they... Logan takes Max up on the offer he extended, and that she agreed to.
1. Default Chapter

Unseen   
  
Author: Downbeat   
  
Setting: End of 411 on the DL, then beyond.   
  
Author's Notes: First ever fan fic about my favorite characters in a set of scenes that I would so have loved to see. Given my novice authorship, I won't claim to have the best OC dialogue in the world, but I still hope it's entertaining for any who'll be reading this.   
  
Disclaimer: I almost feel like saying same old story same old song and dance, because everybody knows it already. But I'll be good and state for the record that I claim no ownership to any of the characters from Dark Angel. Nor shall I profit in any way from having written about them forthwith. They remain the property of James Cameron and company.   
  
Appreciation: To my betas V and B. Very, Very valuable to having even a first chapter that can be called a finished product. They also share in any criticism for punctuation, grammar, etc., etc. (J/K)   
  
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"Hey, bartender...Give this gentleman anything he wants."   
With that Max left Crash and Bling moved in to sit at the bar and ordered up a pilsner of the local brew that was on tap. Within minutes Original Cindy sauntered up to where he was sitting. Her walk said she wanted something, even if it wasn't what people typically wanted when they approached another in a bar.   
  
"Hey" Cindy said in a friendly greeting to this stranger.   
  
"Hey yourself" Bling replied with an admiring look at her up and down and a tone that insinuated interest. She picked up on it right away.   
  
"Sugah, I'm sorry to have to disappoint ya and all, but you'd have a better chance with that brother over there than with Original Cindy." She gestured towards the table where Herbal Thought and the rest of the JamPony crew were sitting. "At least the two of you have something more in common, sportin' the same hairstyle."   
  
Bling didn't quite know what she was indicating, but he knew when he wasn't in an advantageous position to push it with a female regardless of how attractive he found her.   
  
"Saw you talking with my girl and then she left right away." Cindy left the statement open to see how he might offer her information.   
  
"Max. Your girl?" Bling answered with another hint that meant he was slightly confused as to how Cindy saw their particular relationship.   
  
"Now that's twice already you got me wrong." She countered. "Max is my boo and all. We work together too, but I know where she gets her lovin' from."   
  
"Is that so." Being intrigued by this, Bling continued. " Well Original Cindy, just to be proper and all, my name is Bling. And I think we might have ourselves a conversation here yet, if you should want."   
  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*   
  
  
Max had heard thunder and seen lightning immediately after exiting Crash. She decided that even if she was going to get rained on while heading over to Logan's she didn't have to wind up there totally wet, so she pulled on her red cycling helmet. She looked ridiculous wearing it. She knew that better than anybody. For that matter anyone who'd ever donned it while riding with her had looked ridiculous as well. Max silently wished she had pictures of her friends from those occasions. They would have been worth it for laughs and as a means to embarrass them too. But the helmet itself was functional and would at least keep her hair dry if it started pouring as she expected. Max also knew that with a full tank of gas she could afford to use all the horsepower her baby had and she wanted to use that speed to beat the rain altogether. Which was just what she set out to do.   
  
A small amount of luck had her arrive at Logan's just as what had amounted to a sprinkle began to change into a shower. On her way up the elevator she realized that the downpour she had anticipated had in fact arrived complete with crashing thunder and lightning. She found Logan to be in one of his sulking kind of moods. Their conversation was a discourse on how each of them had been disappointed by others that day. The mood in the room was initially heavy. Max didn't quite know how it changed but somehow she had gotten into an exchange with him that, while it seemed like wordplay, ended up with her agreeing to go for a spin in the park with him. In the rain, no less. How had he managed to do that? So much for getting there and being dry.   
  
  
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"So Sugah, how you know Max? And what'd you say that had her leave without so much as a goodbye?"   
  
Bling was already catching on that Cindy wasn't really being as accusatory as she might have sounded to someone else.   
"Well Max and I have a mutual acquaintance to answer your first question. And we had been talking about that same person when she caught an idea that maybe they needed a visit from her. I didn't discourage her on that count." He offered this to see if Cindy might let him end the inquiry and possibly change the subject slightly.   
  
"Uh Huh. This certain somebody wouldn't happen to have wheels of his very own, would he?"   
  
Bling felt himself jerk slightly at the notion that she knew he was talking about Logan. Then it dawned on him that were she as tight with Max as she initially claimed, that it wouldn't be so surprising. Max had probably brought Logan's name up in the course of their own conversations a time or two. He chuckled softly to himself at that last thought. Then he realized Cindy had been waiting for some kind of acknowledgment and finally said to her half questioningly, "Yeah that's right, apparently you know the man too."   
  
"I've only met him once but he's the someone who first comes to mind anytime Max is being talked about with any 'he' that doesn't get mentioned by name. So it's Logan she went to see. He's always got some problem or job for her at any time of day or night." Her voice was growing with irritation at that last sentence.   
  
"This isn't exactly one of those times, I'm afraid." He hoped that he might ease the tension that was brewing in Cindy by saying that. Then he continued, "Max, I think is being a friend to Logan tonight."   
  
"Oh No, not another one of the 'We're just friends' propaganda bits. I don't need any of it or the 'We're not like that.' that I've heard from my boo. 'specially not any more of it from you bro."   
  
Bling regarded Cindy with an expression that didn't come across as he intended. If it had she would have known that he was feeling exactly as she had just said. Except that Logan had been the one running the 'friends' speeches on him.   
  
But instead she misread him and scolded, "What? Ya think sister here don't know what a w'rd like propaganda means? Forget you! Original Cindy knows a lot more than she's lettin' on. She not only knows what it means, she knows that it's the right word for what's supposed to be said 'bout either one of those two when they start shoveling the 'We're not like that' baloney. 'Specially when we know they are 'like that'." Cindy was taking a very defensive stand on the matter. Though why she had chosen to go to such lengths at this time and with this complete stranger, she couldn't understand.   
  
"Wait, wait don't you be the one gettin me wrong this time." Bling held up his hands in a surrendering as much as a protecting manner. "I didn't mean to imply anything at all by that. I'm on your side. In fact it's the reason that I wanted to stay and talk to you in the first place."   
  
"Oh....Sorry", she said in a way that made it clear that Original Cindy wasn't in the practice of offering a whole lot of apologies.   
  
A few seconds passed, Cindy took a long slow drink to settle herself. Then she turned quickly to Bling and practically burst as she began, "So you think Max and Logan got something going on besides ..."   
  
At the start of her getting to this matter that he had so wanted to talk to another understanding human being about, the wryest smile instantly formed on Bling's face and it proceeded quickly into an outright devilish grin.   
  
  
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In the front foyer of Fogle Towers, Max and Logan looked out to see if there had been any let up in the rain.   
  
"It's really coming down out there." Logan said very matter-of-factly.   
  
"Yeah, you're right as rain on that one". Max countered with tongue in cheek.   
  
"Oh and once again I get my very own display of the Max Guevara wit. Well thank you for bringing out you're A material for little 'ol me."   
  
"You're so very welcome. I'm glad you liked it. Although I thought it was just too obvious a chance to pass up and not really some of my finer work. I accept your admiration all the same." She could hardly contain the laughter that wanted to slip out at her own efforts to banter with him.   
  
He instead was the one who broke into a lighthearted chuckle and she readily joined in.   
"Someday..." He started. " I'm gonna..."   
  
"What?" she inquired, still sounding playful and with the brightest smile on her face that Logan had ever seen her show.   
  
He knew later that he probably shouldn't have let himself become so fascinated by it. But in that one instance, he couldn't help himself. His gaze went from her smile up to her eyes and then there was no hope that he could have answered her. She had captivated him. With his eyes, he just took her in beauty and allowed himself a moment to be happy with only Max as the reason.   
  
Max felt something too. She had asked him for what she thought was a simple answer to something he had wanted to say. He had started a sentence and not finished it. All she had done was been inquisitive and prodded him. Now there was something else. An emotion in her that she had never felt before. She couldn't name it nor grasp it. It was indescribable to her. Equal parts exciting and perplexing.   
  
What must have been a minute, felt like ages. Ten times as long. Logan didn't answer her question. He simply couldn't. Max reveled in this feeling that Logan had stirred in her with only his eyes and the way they looked at her.   
  
When Max found that she was the first to speak, her next question wasn't her repeating herself.   
"Are you sure you want to go out in this?"   
  
Logan was shaken back to reality, but not altogether happy that it happened.   
"Do you not want to do this?" He found his voice and was able to ask her gently.   
  
"I'm fine with the idea. I thought that maybe you had changed your mind."   
  
"Max, I wouldn't have asked you to go tonight only to back out on you now." He wanted to continue on and say that he wanted her to always be able to believe that he was being honest with her in even the smallest things. But that would just be too much to have said, at that point.   
  
Max sensed something more there but decided to let it go.   
"OK then, let's go."   
  
And despite all age old adages about common sense and coming in from the rain, the two of them stepped out into the warm, and thoroughly wet Seattle night and headed slowly up the boulevard towards the Washington Park Arboretum. Logan reached into his coat's left front pocket and pulled out a baseball cap quickly placing it on his head.   
  
"Hey where did that come from?" Max protested as soon as she saw that he had it on.   
  
"I had it right here." He indicated pointing to his pocket.   
  
"Well I want one too or I want that one whichever the case may be." It somehow didn't matter that Max's hair was already on it's way to becoming drenched in the next minute's time.   
  
"You know I thought about getting you one when I first picked it up the other day. Thinking that it would be perfect for you to be able to wear one too in just this kind of circumstance. But they were only allowing one to a customer."   
  
Max didn't take kindly to his snide humor and made a half-hearted lunge to grab it from off of his head.   
  
"Max," Logan declared warningly, "You wouldn't steal my cap from me on a night like this. I need it." He cooed this last line at her in his most affected voice.   
  
"How can you assign needing it any more than I could claim my need for it." She challenged.   
  
"Well, it will keep some, not all I'm sure, but some of the raindrops off of my glasses. So it's serving a very important and functional purpose for me. After all, I've got to keep my eyes on you."   
  
Max smiled as much to herself as at Logan and thought, 'So Eyes Only only has eyes for me tonight.' That was aiight with her.   
  
And so, on they went.   
  
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	2. A little bit later that night...

Chapter 2 

"So whatcha think Logan's about with Max?" O.C. asked Bling as she motioned to the bartender that she wanted another drink.

"Well," Bling started, "what I'm going to tell you is just that. It's just what _I think. Not anything that's coming from the man himself."_

"Spill." Cindy directed.

"I can't see how they aren't more already!" he blurted out, knowing as he said it that he would have to elaborate, that Cindy would want to hear his reasoning for saying that.

"Whaddya mean by _more?"  She didn't disappoint, he thought to himself._

"Well, more . . . _together.  From what I can tell, they've been attracted to each other for a long time already.  I see them as really being into each other.  But they're resisting any suggestion of being any more involved.  They're denying their feelings, which means they're just wasting each other's time."_

O.C. considered what he had said and then took a drink. Bling waited patiently, not feeling any need to press her for an immediate reaction.  He didn't have to wait too long.

"I say you got your 411 straight." Cindy concluded.  "So since they can't help themselves wit this, only thing I see is that we gonna have to do it for 'em."

It was a good thing that Bling didn't have his glass in hand because OC had so surprised him with her intent that he might well have dropped it.  He had simply thought her a good person to _talk to about Max and Logan; he never imagined she might try to enlist him into actually __doing anything._

"Whoa.  We can't _make people do something they don't want to do."_

"Sugah, that may be true but we know that they do want to. Leaving it up to them to stop denying is out of the question.  'Sides, they don't ever have to know what we're up to."

Bling was speechless for a moment. The idea that OC was proposing was that he team up with her in a conspiracy. Uneasiness settled over him as he thought perhaps he had gotten himself 'involved' with a woman, but so very differently than what he had intended when he first met her. What in fact _had he gotten himself into?_

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Rain was pouring down on them, though neither Max nor Logan complained that they were being pelted by it.  As long as there was no hail, they appeared to be comfortable, and if further evaluation were needed, one might even say on the verge of enjoying themselves.

They'd been quiet as they steadily moved along.  Max was the one to re-open the conversation with the obvious.  "I'm soaked." 

Since she didn't say it in a complaining tone, Logan didn't take it as such.  He turned his chair in her direction and stopped, cocking his head just a bit, and regarded her before thoughtfully stating, "Yeah, you look like you are."

"Logan!"  Max started with only the merest hint of disdain in her voice, for him telling her that, "What I said didn't need a reply.  I don't want you to think I was upset about it.  I knew I'd get wet when we started out."

"I pretty much knew what you meant.  I guess I just wanted to let you know I was listening."  A twinkle in his eye was interrupted by one eyelid as he gave Max a quick wink.  He started again in the same direction they had been going, and Max, in just a slightly satisfied and startled state, was able to get herself moving again, albeit two steps behind, but very intent on catching up.

It was only a little ways further when she asked, "Logan, have you always lived in Seattle?"

He was suddenly aware that the question had made him realize that Max knew very little of this kind of information about him.  It had never come up before or either one of them had never seen an opportunity to address just these kinds of things about him.  His voice was nearly apologetic as he answered her.  "Yeah, with the exception of time that I was in college, Seattle's always been my home.  Being here as long as I have now means that it has the well-known-to-me, familiar comfortability."

Max didn't want to have him feel like she was grilling him or prying, so she decided not to ask him anything else right away.

A sense of obligation crept up on Logan, and before he knew it he was asking, "You didn't come here straight from Gillette, did you?"

Max was the one to stop this time and turn towards him with a small laugh. "You and I aren't really about to play a version of 20 questions, are we?" she said disbelievingly.

"I will if you want me to," he acquiesced honestly.

Max felt that too. All of a sudden, maybe any mystery of Logan Cale was hers for the knowing if she wanted to pursue it.

"Well it might be fun, if you're so willing."

"Forget the numbers, Max. We'll only do it for as long as it is fun. Or we get tired. Or maybe drown." 

He really was okay with the idea, she figured, if he was going to say so and include his little joke in virtually the same sentence.

"Yeah, I did. I came for the weather. And the coffee. Those are two things that a girl like myself loves above all else."

"Max…"

"How much farther till we get to this park? I want to be able to pace myself so that I don't run out of things to ask you about."

"You know if we were counting, that you would have just wasted one of yours."

"No …" she began to exclaim in mock protest that was more about not letting him get any superiority complex as she came to another complete stop. Quickly though he cut her off.

"And I would have penalized you for not honestly answering my question before trying to go ahead with that one of your own."

Max knew that her answer that had been in total jest had set her up for hearing this quip from him and she couldn't deny the allegation. She worked fast, though, to defend herself.  "I was only trying to keep this fun." She began, "I do believe it was you who said that was the goal of us playing. While I'm intrigued to know about what this penalty might have been, I'm not going to ask that since it might further diminish my non-existent quota. Perhaps you'll tell me about it of your own accord, sir." Her tone switched to one of childlike playfulness with her last sentence.

Logan had only an amused chuckle for hearing her counter him in this most smart and captivating way that she had done. He wasn't about to just give in to it though.  "So there's still a question for you to answer." He delivered this near ultimatum in such a nonthreatening way that it was Max this time who reflexively got the twinkle in her eye. He had dodged her artfully and won this round. She knew it was time to give him what he wanted.

"I went north first and ended up in Billings, Montana. Thought it was as good a place as any to try and learn about the world and grow up in. Nothing like what I had left behind and remote enough that they didn't seem to be able to find me."

They had already begun moving along again. The park in the not too distant next two blocks ahead. And the playing field once again level.


End file.
